Racial Inequality And Police Brutality

Living in the information age, the prevalence and awareness towards social problems are able to receive more access than ever before. We always hear the term Social Problems being thrown around habitually in the 21st century, but the term Social problem is defined as “A general cause that motivates activists and social movement organizations to address a particular troubling condition”. (CITE). The current world has too many social problems to name off in under 5 pages so for this paper I would like to focus on perhaps the most prevalent one that we are seeing way too often these days. Police Brutality and racial profiling. As a white male, someone who is a criminal justice major in hopes of eventually becoming some type of law enforcement for my career later in life, you may ask why I even care about this issue since it isn’t necessarily affecting my life directly. My response is simple, I am tired of seeing the hashtags behind these deaths and one death from police brutality is already too many.

Since the first state-sponsored police forces in the U.S. racial discrimination in police forces has been a characteristic of the American landscape. Racial profiling and police brutality have their roots in enforcement of slave codes, black codes, and Jim Crow Segregation laws. We Charge Genocide, a petition submitted to the UN by the Civil Rights Congress in 1951, documented thousands of incidents of police violence against African Americans alone. Police brutality against Native Americans has also been a regular of colonial culture in the U.S. as well. Official studies have consistently found that people and communities of color are disproportionately subjected to human

Police brutality has been a major issue since slavery. In slavery people, mainly whites, were able to do anything to black people without having to deal without dealing with the consequences. Families were destroyed, people died, babies were killed, and many unknown factors still to this day that will never be known. When slavery was abolished, it did not end right away. It took several years and still is not abolished if you look at in a political way. People of power, mainly white, were not happy that a black person could be seen as equals. This is the main reason why they feel it is okay to lash out at black people. There are several major issues that are causing and epidemic in The United States. However, the main issue that seems to be the most discussed is about police brutality in the black community. “Police brutality is the use of excessive and/or unnecessary force by police when dealing with civilians. “Excessive use of force” means a force well beyond what would be necessary in order to handle a situation. Police brutality can be present in a number of ways. The most obvious form of police brutality is a physical form. Police officers can use nerve gas, batons, pepper spray, and guns in order to physically intimidate or even intentionally hurt civilians. Police brutality can also take the form of false arrests, verbal abuse, psychological intimidation, sexual abuse, police corruption, racial profiling, political repression and the improper use of Tasers”

Statistics do show that African Americans have a higher percent of crime rates than Caucasians. African Americans makes up thirteen percent of the countries total population; however they also make up thirty-one percent of all of the arrests. “... analysts say, [police] stop many more blacks and Hispanics on highways and on city streets then they do whites” (“Crime and Race”). Do the police target these minority races merely on race? Analysts not only believe the idea of racial profiling, they refute it. They consider the fact that these races commit more crimes than whites do. The high crime rates of minorities are argued that the minorities are arrested at a higher rate than whites because a higher population of minorities live in poor neighborhoods. Areas where unemployment is high, poverty is common, and schools are unfunded. Many socialists point out that crime tends to correlate with both poverty and unemployment. These factors may make minority youth feel they have to turn to criminal activities because of the “blocked opportunities” other adolescent people might receive. Minorities are not arrested at higher rate because they are targeted by police, they are just committing more crimes for the reason that they live in deprived regions (“Update: Crime and Race”).

Racial profiling isn’t something new to today’s society. Most recently there were incidents in which the officers were accused of mistreating blacks such as Michael Brown and Freddie Gray. “Racism versus professionalism: claims and counter-claims about racial profiling” written by Vic Satzewich and William Shaffir discusses racism versus professionalism with officers. Their argument is more biased towards the police force and they argue that it’s part of their job. “

Over the past decade, police brutality has covered major headlines because officers have acted out in ways that have made citizens question their motives. Things such as unjustified shootings, deadly chokings, and rough treatment have all added to the constant problem of police brutality in the black community. Annoyingly, the police officers responsible for the killings and abuse are not held for long before they are discharged to their normal routines. Since many people believe that the issues of police brutality is based on race, officers should be held accountable for their misconduct. Accountability will permit officers to treat all with equality; therefore using the appropriate amount of force on everyone. Often cops are indicted in less than 1% of killings, but the indictment rate for citizens is 90% which is a major problem. If someone does wrong they should suffer the consequence no matter who they are. As a result of misconduct officers tend be mistrusted by their communities. Deaths in the black community often stems from police officers using excessive force such as assaults, beating and shootings.

Police brutality against minorities has been a severe issue America has faced for almost a century, with the problem originating with the National Prohibition Act in 1919. Crime grew as the demand for illegal alcohol did as well, causing many law enforcement agencies to increase the use of unlawful practices. The motives for authorities to brutalize citizens is usually racial profiling, but can also occur with differences in religion, politics, or socioeconomic class. Police officers use of excessive force is most commonly associated with minorities, African-Americans specifically. Notable victims such as Rodney King and Frank Jude were fortunate enough to live another day to tell their story, however, Sean Bell and Timothy Thomas, both gunned

I stand here today to present you with the issue that needs to be addressed immediately: racial injustice and police brutality. America is base on the fundamental principle of equality and freedom to be individual. However, this cannot happen due to the unjust to we, the blacks. Our ancestors helped through the civil revolution, many great people- such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, President Obama that try to create equality for people. America is a place where people of different color love and accept each other despite their differences. Throughout history, black people being treated brutality that led to the death of many innocent blacks who were killed by police officers, and we need to put a stop to this. People will always hear that their black male or female were killed by a higher authority figure; however, they still face no consequences. Most of the time the police officers that are not held accountable for the killing of unarmed black males because no criminal charges are pressed against them. There are still police officers on the street, discriminating blacks because they do not believe that blacks are equal to them. Many police officers that will kill even a young black male or female and then get a away with it. Yes, all human lives are valuable, but today I am specifically addressing the black lives matter movement. Blacks lives matter movement is important because we are addressing the white supremacy in our nation. It is an cry out for help

Police brutality goes back many decades and actually happens a lot less the it did in the 60’s it is just seems like it occurs more due to the development of social media today. During the Civil Rights Movement that began in 1963 African Americans mostly in the South took the majority of these police brutalities. For example In the 60’s blacks were beaten with batons and cattle prods as they attempted to vote at a court house that was in Selma, Alabama. The subjects that received the beatings were not violent and also unarmed blacks that wanted to vote at a local court house. Attacks by police did not stop there, the police continued to attack unarmed and non-violent blacks as they attempted to march from Selma to Montgomery in the state of Alabama. The rules of deadly force have continued to develop since the introduction of the Constitution. At one point police were even given authority to fire on a fleeing felon even if they were not armed with a weapon. Today 's police officers receive significantly more training so that the violation of civil act’s and excessive uses of force may be prevented, but even with the extra training, police officers still act in this brutal manner. Every police department in America has experienced some type of misconduct, some more than others but not all have experienced a civil rights or police brutality violation. In my opinion, many of these incidents took place because of the lack of training that was provided to these officers. Most

A problem that has risen over the past decade or so is the criminal justice system being against African Americans, but to be more specific is the criminal justice system being against African American males. There have been numerous amounts of cases that have come to face dealing with African Americans and law enforcement. The types of cases that have caught the eye of the media and the people of the United States are the ones were law enforcement uses excessive force on an African American or killing an African American teen or adult. Any situation dealing with law enforcement and Africans Americans, they believe they will be treated differently than any other race. Numbers have increased over the years of African American men being incarcerated,

These are some reasons police brutality has to end because it’s affecting the rate of african americans in america .

The specific audience of my argumentation is the racially ignorant white populations that refuse to acknowledge the idea that police brutality towards the African-American race is evident amongst our society. The racially ignorant white population assumes that police brutality is used as a defense mechanism rather than an appeal to racism towards African-Americans. This hostile audience becomes uncomfortable when asked to discuss police brutality towards the minorities and would rather disregard or ignore the conversation. Thus, they may not initially agree with my arguments because it might be difficult for them to comprehend the idea that African-Americans are being subjected to racial cruelty. My goal is to persuade the ignorant white populations about police brutality amongst African-Americans so they become more aware and can help support the abolishment of the cruelty minorities are faced with.

In the article by Jim Leitzel, he discusses the policing that has been done. In the beginning, he praises the police system for keeping crime rates low in the United States, but that praise is ultimately tarnished from their role of race. He gives examples of certain situations that have happened to put his point across; one example is in 1997, when the police tortured a Haitian immigrant for no specific reason. He also brings up the question if disparities exist and if it is implemented in policing today. There are disparities in policing since it does indicate criminal profiling (Leitzel). Leitzel questions the police, if they are private citizens of their country shouldn’t they act as a good citizen? Sadly, they do not, most cops judge

“What are you following me for?” “You shot me. You shot me!” “Please don’t let me die” “Officer, why do you have your guns out?” “I can’t breathe.” “I don’t have a gun. Stop Shooting.”(The Last Words). These were some of the last words from victims of police brutality against African Americans. Police brutality has been occurring ever since the police force began, but recently, the police have been targeting African Americans. In 2016, more than 250 African Americans were killed by the police. Most of the victims were unarmed and have not committed a serious offense. These frightening statistics do not have to continue. If the average American recognized the severity of the issue and raised their voice, this inequity

On April 19, 2015 at approximately 7 a.m., Freddie Grey, a 25-year-old black man from Baltimore, Maryland died by mysterious causes. After being chased down and thrown into a police van by police officers, he was taken out of the van unresponsive and soon, “...lapsed into a coma, died, was resuscitated, stayed in a coma and on Monday, underwent extensive surgery at Shock Trauma to save his life" (Ford, 2015). Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, and Eric Garner are other minority males that have become symbols of a raging national conversation about police brutality and racial injustice. These events have caused community’s civil rights protests to unite under themes such as; " Black Lives Matter", "Hands Up Don 't Shoot", "No Justice No Peace", and “I Can’t Breathe.” Police brutality driven by racial profiling is evident in lower income and minority areas. This is apparent because of lack of minority police officers, racial profiling in all ages, and the fear of the people in the community to step up to authority in the face of adversity.